WHEELING — One big play can change the momentum of the game in the blink of an eye. Hence was the case during the OVAC Class 5A championship game between Brooke and Steubenville Monday. With the base loaded and no outs in a one run game, Lakyn Blackburn caught a soft line drive and threw the ball to third base to convert a double play. The sequence gave Big Red a little bit of breathing room as it was able to get out of the jam and hold off a fierce Bruins rally to secure the 5A title, 5-4 at the J.B. Chambers Complex.

“I have no clue what to say other than you tell your kids to make a play,” Steubenville coach Gus DiMarzio said. “We made a play. Lucky for us their baserunner was a little too far away from the base on a soft liner. We caught it, made a play at third. It bailed us out really. I’m not saying we didn’t deserve to win this game because we fought and played hard the whole game. It’s just sometimes you need breaks and you need Lady Luck on your side.”

Steubenville held a comfortable 5-0 lead after three innings. Thanks to a couple of errors in the first inning by Brooke, Big Red scored three runs, one coming from a RBI single from Mary Marshall.

She capped the scoring in the opening frame as she crossed home plate thanks to a thorwing error by the catcher.

Big Red continued to add to its lead in the third innning thanks to back-to-back RBI singles from Raven Banks and Sadie Carduci.

However, Brooke pitcher Rachel Kazmirski kept Big Red in check and did not allow a hit for the rest of the game.

Maddie Fields, showed her resiliency for Steubenville as she was able to get out of a pair of jams. With one out and the bases loaded, the Big Red defense bent, but did not break. A strikeout and a fly out to left field ended the threat.

The junior pitcher faced a similar situation in the seventh with the bases loaded and no outs. She started the inning off with four straight walks, but the big double-play saved the day for Big Red.

“There’s probably not two better pitchers in the Valley than these two (Kazmirski and Fields),” DiMarzio said. “Maddie is as tough as they come. I got up off the bucket in the seventh inning and she told me to sit back down. So I sat back down and she got out of it. She has confidence in herself, she’s tough and she works hard. What can you say? She fought her way out.”

Brooke, though, did not go down without a fight. In the fifth inning, Jaycee Mitchell blasted a three-run home run over the left field fence to put the score at 5-3 in favor of Big Red. Mitchell also had a double in the fourth inning that broke up Fields’ no-hit bid.

“I think we were a little nervous early,” Brooke coach Jim DiCarlo said. “I’m so proud of the kids and the community for coming out. The support of the kids, the parents and the fans were just great. We sure had our chances there at the end, but sometimes things just don’t go your way. Big Red is a great team. I congratulate them. I give our kids a million credits for being down 5-0 to a team like that and having a chance to win it in the last inning.”

Carli Julio supplied the other hit for the Bruins. She also plated the final run of the game.

Kazmirski went the distance as she had three strikeouts and gave up four hits.

“As the game goes on, she seems to get better,” DiCarlo said. “And we changed some philosophy as the game went on and it seemed to help us there to give us a chance.”

Fields also went the distance for Steubenville tallying four strikeouts in the process and only giving up three hits.